Lexington’s Union Station, 1944

Lexington’s Union Station on Main Street, 1944. It had opened with great fanfare on Aug. 4, 1907, with the arrival of C&O passenger train No. 24. A crowd estimated at 3,000 people met the train. The terminal fronted Main Street, just west of Walnut Street, which has been renamed Martin Luther King Boulevard. The exterior was built with red and yellow brick, and green and red glass. The lobby was in the center rotunda, which was 50 by 80 feet, with a central dome 50 feet high. The lobby had a Roman arch ceiling and six oak waiting benches. The last passenger train (the George Washington) departed from the station on May 9, 1957. Union Station was closed because of high operating overhead and low passenger travel. In March 1960, the building was demolished. The current building at the site houses the Lexington Police Department, the Fayette County clerk’s office and the downtown’s busiest parking garage, the Annex Garage. Click here to see more images of Union Station from our archives.